Increased TCR avidity after T cell activation: a mechanism for sensing low-density antigen - PubMed (original) (raw)

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Increased TCR avidity after T cell activation: a mechanism for sensing low-density antigen

T M Fahmy et al. Immunity. 2001 Feb.

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Abstract

While activated T cells are known to have enhanced biological responses to antigen stimulation, the biophysical basis of this increased sensitivity remains unknown. Here, we show that, on activated T cells, the TCR avidity for peptide-MHC complexes is 20- to 50-fold higher than the TCR avidity of naive T cells. This increased avidity for peptide-MHC depends on TCR reorganization and is sensitive to the cholesterol content of the T cell membrane. Analysis of the binding data indicates the enhanced avidity is due to increases in cross-linking of TCR on activated T cells. Activation-induced membrane (AIM) changes in TCR avidity represent a previously unrecognized means of increasing the sensitivity of activated T cells to small amounts of antigen in the periphery.

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